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vaccine

West Coast States Issuing Joint Vaccine Guidelines As CDC And HHS Make Massive Changes And Cuts 

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California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii are releasing their own joining recommendations for who should receive Covid, flu, and RSV vaccines this fall. This decision was made to counteract the new vaccine guidance that will be coming from the Trump administration, which has also removed prominent scientists and health experts from the federal health department. 

The administration has also put individuals who are vaccine skeptics and critics in key roles throughout the department, leading to the four states wanting to take control. The recently terminated director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Susan Monarez, testified to Congress about her fear of health in the US under Robert F Kennedy Jr as the head of the Department of Health and Human Services. 

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“There’s a real risk that recommendations could be made restricting access to vaccines for children and others in need, without rigorous scientific review.”

The four states have formed what they are calling the West Coast Health Alliance. The Alliance is urging Americans to get this year’s Covid-19 vaccine if they are pregnant, aged 65 or older, are immunocompromised/have a range of risk factors, or are just choosing to keep themselves protected. 

They also stated that children from age 23 months to six should receive the vaccine as should older children and teenagers who have not been vaccinated or have risk factors. 

“These recommendations represent a collaborative effort, done with humility and based on science, to meet our responsibilities to our communities and the public at large,” Dr Kenneth Fink, the director of Hawai’i’s department of health, said in a statement.

The states’ recommendations go against the Trump administrations current vaccine guidelines for Covid-19. Kennedy is one of the most prominent vaccine skeptics in the US, and he announced back in May that the federal government no longer recommends pregnant people and children receive the Covid-19 vaccine. 

They announced the West Coast Health Alliance in early September after the White House forced Monarez out. Monarez often went up against Kennedy over the ways he was trying to reshape federal vaccine policies and contradicting long-standing scientific research. 

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The acting head of the CDC under Trump is a former speechwriter and investment executive with no actual medical or scientific background. California governor Gavin Newsom said that the state health officials who developed the new recommendations within the Alliance are “all medical doctors.”

According to reports, the recommendations are also based on official guidance from major health associations like the American Academy of Pediatrics. 

Kennedy got rid of existing members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in June. Even one Republican senator who’s also a medical doctor called this move concerning. Louisiana’s Bill Cassidy discussed the risk of rescinding the recommendation for an infant hepatitis B vaccine. 

Cassidy issued a statement calling for a “postponement of the ACIP meeting. If the meeting proceeds, any recommendations made should be rejected as lacking legitimacy given the seriousness of the allegations and the current turmoil in CDC leadership.”

In her congressional testimony, Monarez warned that Kennedy had told her that “the childhood vaccine schedule would be changing starting in September, and I needed to be on board with it.” She also discussed how she was fired after not pledging to “commit in advance to approving every ACIP recommendation, regardless of the scientific evidence.” She added that she also was terminated for resisting the removal of career public health officials that were responsible for vaccine policy without a legitimate cause. 

“If vaccine protections are weakened, preventable diseases will return,” Monarez testified.

Agent Client Relationship

For Real Estate Agents, Building Strong Relationships With Your Clients Should Be Top Priority

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Being a real estate agent is all about making client connections. Talking deeply with your clients about what they want, where they want to be, and how to get there. In the realm of occupations where interpersonal relationships are at the forefront of importance, being a real estate agent is at the top of the list. So it goes without saying that in order to be a successful agent, you have to go above and beyond to make the client feel like they’re in good hands and working with someone they can genuinely trust to help them on their property journeys. 

Trust is the key word here. Owning property is a serious decision and process, it’s up to the agent to guide their clients along this journey, especially if their first time buyers/renters. You want to make your client feel like they’re in an open and honest space where no question is considered a dumb one, so enforce that! Let your clients know that whatever curiosities or confusions they have during the process, is valid and they shouldn’t be afraid to speak up and ask about something if they don’t 100% understand it. More times than not, you’ll have a client who is too afraid to ask even though it’s their future property at discussion. Sometimes these individuals can view agents or anyone in an intense “service” industry job as intimidating, just because of the vast knowledge they hold. So when something like property taxes, or  escrow is brought up, go out of your way to ask your client if they fully understand what your talking about, and make sure to do it in a manner that’s not condescending, but like you genuinely want to help, after all, that is your job. 

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Once you make it clear that they’re in a trusting environment it’s also established that the clients needs are being put first. That should go without saying, however, reassuring that point will create a new level of respect between the two of you. Your clients wants, needs, and priorities are what’s most important, so say that to them! While your working on your initial lists of things your client is looking for in a property, really dive into each one and discuss the specifics of each and how important each item is to the client. For example, if they say they want a nice wrap around porch, ask them where on their list of wants/needs does that fall in terms of importance. If you were to find a property in the perfect location for your client that’s under budget but there’s no porch, pool, backyard, etc. how much of an issue would that be? What’s the number one non-negotiable need that your client wants to see in their future home? By really diving into these specifics, your client will know that you’re an agent that they can trust, respect, and who really wants the best for them. 

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Building a trusting and supportive relationship with your clients is just as beneficial to you as it is to them. Through the process of deep and detailed discussion, your working on your communication skills as an agent. You’re indirectly learning which communication techniques are most successful for both parties and what types of logic and reasoning can help make the easiest process for everyone. 

It’s also beneficial for you as an agent for the obvious reason that your sales will increase. Having a good trusting professional relationship with your clients will make you memorable to them. This means that you’re more likely to get recommended  to any friends and family of that client when they’re looking for property. This is vastly important as referrals are one of the top ways that agents build their client lists. The more interpersonal connection you make with your clients, the more of a memorable impact you’ll make, and therefore your name will pop into their heads for any future real estate needs they, or their family/friends, have. 

Finally, creating a successful and trusting relationship between agent and client will lead to an overall smoother experience all around. Once that trust is established, both you and your client will feel a lot more confident in both of your abilities to get to the bottom of the clients needs, and finding the perfect property that caters to them.